Teen surrenders in deadly shooting

One dead, one injured in shooting

July 1, 2008 4:12:50 AM PDT

Eyewitness News

NEWARK --

An 18-year-old accused of shooting to death a fellow Newark teen hours after her high school graduation has surrendered.Sujeidi Ocasio and another teen were shot at a graduation party outside 196 Lincoln Avenue just after 12:15 a.m.

Ocasio was rushed to University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Authorities say the single bullet, allegedly fired by 18-year-old Nicole Guyette, went through Ocasio's neck and struck 15-year-old Jasmine Perez. Perez was treated and released from University Hospital in Newark, officials say.

"She got shot for no reason," Perez said. "So the bullet went through her and hit me."

Jasmine was struck in the collarbone by the bullet. It all started when, in the midst of the party, an argument broke out between the two teenagers.

"I was trying to tell them to stop arguing, but the girl just shot her out of nowhere," Perez said. "They was just [arguing] over nothing. Name calling, over nothing. She got shot for no reason."

Family and friends are now grieving them loss of the young woman, who was the first to graduate high school and the first in her family who planning to attend college. They lit candles in her memory.

Detectives from the Essex County Prosecutor's Homicide Squad issued an arrest warrant out for 18-year-old Guyette of Newark.

Guyette surrendered to police at 9:30 Saturday night. She surrendered to police at the Christian Love Baptist church in Irvington.

Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, said Nicole Guyette was accompanied by a lawyer when she surrendered in Irvington shortly before 11 o'clock last night.

Nicole Guyette was transferred to the Essex County Detention Center shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday morning on charges of Murder, Aggravated Assault, Possession of a Weapon, and Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose.

Her bail has been set at $500,000 bail by Essex County Superior Court Judge Michael Petrolle.